Government departments have united to expand support for vulnerable people, Housing Minister Kris Hopkins and Communities Minister Stephen Williams said today.
Over £65m of funding from across Whitehall is being offered to councils and other organisations to tackle homelessness around the country.
This Government has increased spending on preventing homelessness and as a result homeless acceptances are lower than in 27 of the last 30 years.
Mr Hopkins said simply providing accommodation is not enough to prevent homelessness, and it is vital that vulnerable people can access a range of support and lead independent lives.
The funding will be invested across five programmes:
· an £8m Help for Single Homeless Fund that will improve council services for single people facing the prospect of homelessness;
· the £15m Fair Chance Fund, an innovative “payments by results” scheme, that will provide accommodation, education, training and employment opportunities for around 2,000 of our most vulnerable young homeless people;
· a total of £41.5m will be shared between Homelessness Change funding to provide tailored temporary hostel accommodation for rough sleepers to get them off the streets and transform their lives through health, training and education facilities, and Platform for Life funding to provide shared accommodation for young people at risk of homelessness so they have a stable platform for work and study; and
· more than £580,000 to extend the Homelessness Gold Standard scheme, which helps councils to improve frontline housing services for homeless families and single people.
This is in addition to the £470million of funding that the Government has maintained since 2010 to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness and the No Second Night Out scheme, which has helped thousands of people off the streets since its launch in 2011 and aims to ensure no-one spends a second night sleeping rough.
Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said:
“People at risk of homelessness need more than just a roof over their head. They also need help with their education, employment and health so they have the right skills, confidence and opportunities to succeed.
“That’s why this Government has increased spending on preventing homelessness and why we’ve worked hard to ensure that homelessness acceptances are now lower than in 27 of the last 30 years.
“Additionally we are giving £65m to help councils and charities provide tailored support to homeless people, so they can find stable accommodation and live independent and fulfilling lives.”